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“These were candidates running in states Obama targeted at the presidential level. They reaped some of the biggest benefits because they shared volunteers, they shared offices,” Wasserman said. “There was a coordinated Democratic effort on the ground in voter registration and persuasion.”

Heavy black turnout also affected the outcomes in two contested Georgia races. In the 8th District, which is 32 percent black, Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall won a comfortable 14-point victory against a highly touted Republican challenger — despite facing flak over his support for the Wall Street bailout. In 2006, Marshall won reelection by fewer than 2,000 votes.

In the Senate contest, Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss was held to less than 50 percent of the vote, forcing him into a Dec. 2 runoff against Democrat Jim Martin.

“The Obama factor was a very strong reason I’m heading into a runoff,” Chambliss said, noting that black voters normally make up 27 percent of the Georgia electorate, while this year they were about 31 percent.

The spike in African-American turnout for Obama wasn’t limited to the South. It also doomed veteran Republican Rep. Christopher Shays in an affluent, predominantly white district in Manhattan’s Connecticut suburbs. In the past, Shays had performed credibly for a Republican in the urban part of the district — the city of Bridgeport — where he won by more than 30 percent against his 2004 and 2006 rival, Diane Farrell.

This year, Shays could muster only 18 percent of the vote in Bridgeport against Democrat Jim Himes, which was the difference between winning an 11th term and now heading into an early retirement.

In Ohio’s Cincinnati-based 1st District, GOP Rep. Steve Chabot had been leading Democrat Steve Driehaus throughout much of Election Night until the heavily African-American precincts in the city began reporting late in the evening. Those numbers turned a double-digit Chabot lead into a 3-point Driehaus victory.

The surge in African-American votes also may have helped the Democratic victor, Frank Kratovil, in a close contest on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. While only 11 percent of Maryland’s 1st District is African-American, Obama and Kratovil racked up huge margins of victory in precincts with large black populations.

Kratovil won the race over Republican state Sen. Andy Harris by about 2,000 votes — less than 1 percentage point.

“Make no mistake, Kratovil owes his election to Obama and the African-American community,” Edward Lee, Worcester County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People president, told the Associated Press.

The surge in African-American votes also may have helped the Democratic victor, Frank Kratovil, in a close contest on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. While only 11 percent of Maryland’s 1st District is African-American, Obama and Kratovil racked up huge margins of victory in precincts with large black populations.

Kratovil won the race over Republican state Sen. Andy Harris by about 2,000 votes — less than 1 percentage point.

I live in Maryland and I am so glad that Andy Harris lost. He ran a disgusting campaign against Wayne Gilchrest who was actually a sane, moderate and rational Republican, and he ran a dirty trite fear and smear campaign against Kratovil. Like most extreme right-wingers, he ran a snake of a campaign with nothing but underhanded, irrational, dirty attacks against his opponent. I felt like I had to take a shower after one of his campaign commercials came on. I could only imagine how people in North Carolina felt having to deal with Liddy Dole's disgusting "Godless" ad against her Sunday School teacher opponent. That kind of stuff is just a pattern with you right-wingers.

In other words, Obama had no coattails except where blacks turned out to vote for him and in the process helped some down ballot candidates.

You really need to work on your comprehension and interpretation skills there "True Observer". This article is highlighting a specific segment of Obama's coattails, it says nothing about these being his exclusive coattails.

Running in a deeply conservative southeastern Alabama district that was once home base to segregationist former governor George Wallace. Nearly a dozen newly elected Dems can thank Obama, even if they didn't endorse him during the election. ======================= Brian pennsylvania drug rehab